A drop of water
By Anna Keiko (Shanghai, China)
A drop of water
Dripping day after day
The creek became the sea
A ray of light
Shines year after year
A small seedling becomes a big tree
An encounter
A white sheet alike meets a coloured pen
Drawing a spring full of love.
Accident of Los Angeles
In Los Angeles skies, bright and wide,
A sudden crash, no place to hide.
Sirens wail, hearts filled with fear,
Lives are shattered, loss so near.
Dreams once golden, now turned gray,
In the chaos of that fateful day.
Tears fall heavy, pain runs deep,
Memories the city will always keep.
Yet in the dark, hope still glows,
Through broken streets, a new dawn grows.
Strength will rise, though hearts still ache,
A city’s soul, too strong to break.
Don Bormon is a student of grade ten in Harimohan Government High School, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh.
A homeless rabbit (Uysiz Quyon)
Far away in the direction of the forest
There lived an agile rabbit.
He always chases him,
Beasts here and there.
The rabbit runs to the nest,
The fox is chasing.
His leg in his hand
He runs away from fear.
To the trap set by the fox,
The poor thing fell.
He is salty without a homeland,
It’s lunch time.
Naila Abdunosirova is the daughter of Nodirjan Student of “B” grade of 8th creative school named after Erkin Vahidov, Margilan city in Uzbekistan.
……
攀桥花
你可知攀桥面对乌漆铁栅
你可知宿处不为天然泥崖
不留意鸟歌高不过喇叭
只在乎泥印密不过白花
你吻过泥板灰墙
告别他的掩夹
你拥上尖埃旧梁
还要展却枝丫
近看天色多日沉霞
不比前月胭华
近闻人声多言愁话
不比前时笑洽
指点轮辙辗过绒花
指点红灯笛鸣吹沙
你可见暗色言语人车深压
等待淡化
等待你描尘抹泥的白花
Creeping Bridge Flowers
Do you know you face ink-black iron bars
Do you know your bed’s not natural clay and stars
Heedless that birdsong fades beneath urban calls
Caring only that mud prints out bloom petals’ falls
You’ve kissed earthen boards and ashen walls goodbye
Released their sheltering hold with a sigh
You’ve embraced ancient beams dusted with time
Yet still unfold branches in their prime
Nearby skies hold sunset’s fading grace
Less fair than last month’s rosy face
Nearby voices whisper sorrow’s trace
Less sweet than former joy’s embrace
Watch wheel tracks crush velvet blooms below
Watch red lights and whistles stir dust’s flow
See you not how dark words, crowds, and cars oppress
Waiting to fade away
Waiting for your white flowers to cleanse time’s clay
凝固北岸
过了桥就是荒芜
没有安排霞暮的洼沟
与多少声音的凝固
探下去就是水沽
乌鸦旧羽的藏处
你向前去绕过柳树
墨色滩上有你新掉落的意物
你若愿意谨心深入
他便换了颜色尝试着清楚
即使他呜咽将你救赎
你留下的足迹也终究模糊
你在亭下止步的时候
多少双眼见你与他们一样
知晓了自己的短处
别在黑白里分却词数
快走出去写下你
化开沉默的第一眼斑斓
Frozen North Bank
Beyond the bridge, desolation reigns
No twilight pools in hollowed plains
Where countless voices freeze in time
Beneath lies waters old as rhyme
Where crow feathers seek their rest
Moving past willows, heading west
Your fresh thoughts fall on ink dark shore
Should you venture deeper and explore
It shifts its hues toward clarity’s door
Though its weeping might set you free
Your footprints fade eventually
When beneath the pavilion you pause
Many eyes see you as their own because
All share the same mortal flaws
Count not words in shadow and light
Hurry forth and write your flight
Breaking silence with color’s first bright
若芙蓉
你再倾向我吧
我见你在高处开花
你莫急转向东啊
呼喊的西边我刚到达
在转角里与灰尘挣扎
争先来见你呀
你再转头向西吧
我向你近来诉答
你念我回眸笑狭
我念你轻胭掩枝丫
我回时
你朝东南倒下
亲近你发紫的先霎
那些岁月不知晓的涂鸦
长久里只与石台相融洽
你能再把影子擎上檐狭
我能再见你青枝胭花
我的私心挺重的
写了千万个你呀
来证示世上有个我吧
Like Lotus
Turn to me once more,
I prayI see you flowering high away
Don’t rush eastward on your path
The calling west I’ve reached at last
Wrestling dust at every turn
Racing forth your grace to learn
Turn westward once again my wayI come with tales of yesterday
You speak of my shy, turning smile
I dream of your rouge style
Upon return, my heart grows still
You’ve fallen southeast on the hill
Embracing your first purple sheen
Those years’ forgotten scribbles seen
Long melded with stone steps serene
Could your shadow grace the eaves again
Could I glimpse your rose-bloom sway
My heart holds such selfishness deep
I’ve written countless yours to keep
To prove I exist in this world’s sweep
上窗叶
我可能用相遇定义你重新的青绿
我可能见你在昨年的桥底
抚波摆碧
你没停过抚摸砖梯
风没逃过绕转停息
我没停过顺的风来找你
我想我只能矮矮地看你
用高大的思想触及
我想我只能跟青草论高低
我想我要继续深去
见到根柄堆积
才是我储藏心理的坚璧
是的，我携着未名的物体
藏我过去不合实际的思想于根底
我想来年一些成了旁花
再见回忆
在夜里凋落离去
一些成了果
我要它成熟 成为实际
Leaves at the Window
Perhaps I define your renewed emerald
Through the lens of our chance meeting
Perhaps I saw you beneath last year’s bridge
Caressing waves with grace greeting
Never have you ceased stroking stone steps
Never has wind escaped its rest
Never have I stopped seeking you with gentle breeze
I know I can only gaze up at you from below
Reaching toward you with lofty thoughts
I can only measure height with grass so low
I long to venture deeper still
Where stems and stalks amass until
I find the fortress where my heart’s thoughts spill
I carry unnamed treasures deep
Bury my impractical dreams where roots sleep
Some may bloom as flowers next year
When memories appear
Falling away in night’s sphere
Some will fruit in time
I wish them ripe with truth sublime
落绿叶
只有我在人群中低头见你
只有我不再仰头谈戏
我也在雨中与些许人分离
独自走入世间的缝隙
试探自己的支撑力
在那里
我们不须躬身前去
拈起他人遗弃的颗粒
将其在耻笑者的背后堆积
最后成了影子
束缚着我们位移
雨天里
陷困者的脚步走得如此容易
扑向一只没有尾翼的鸟
倒在耻笑者的影子里被人遗弃
扯下一片绿叶
止塞最后的哭泣
Falling Green Leaves
Only I in crowds bow to see you there
Only I no longer look up for flair
I too part from some in rain’s domain
Walking alone through worldly seams
Testing the strength that holds my dreams
There
We need not bow to proceed
To gather grains others leave
Pile them behind mockers’ backs with care
Until we become shadows that bind
Restricting where we’re inclined
In rainy days
The trapped walk with such ease
Rushing toward a wingless bird
Falling forgotten in scorners’ shadows
Plucking one green leaf to seal
The final tears we feel
Su Yun, whose real name is Chen Ruizhe, he is a 17-year-old poet. He is the member of the Chinese Poetry Society. His works have been published in more than ten countries, including the poetry collections “Spreading All Things” and “Wise Language Philosophy” in China, and the poetry collection “WITH ECSTASY OF MUSING IN TRANQUILITY” in India. He won the 2024 Guido Gozzano Apple Orchard Award in Italy.
The Heart Needs no Pen or Paper
You are there and I am here
We write to each other every day
It’s second nature now to pick up my pen
but today no new words come to me
I know my heartbeat leads to you
And no doubt that yours beats for me too
Sometimes we need not even speak at all
For what is in the heart needs no lines
It beats without effort as does our love
But you’re still in my every thought
And when I wake, I know you are still mine
If I get no letter from you today, I do not fret
For a letter can’t take the place of what is in your heart
And what is in your heart needs no pen or paper
I can always feel your love, regardless… And I smile.
Alone…
Loneliness and sadness grew in my heart without you
I tried to find in someone else what I found in you
What I failed to realize is that you can not be replaced
When two hearts are one, none can separate them,
no matter how much I try to move forward..
If he would try to touch my hand, it would chill me
I couldn’t look in his eyes…
Because I couldn’t find my reflection
You hold the key that locks these golden chains around my heart
I need your kiss, your touch, and the love only we share
But I have no answers…
Because though we are apart in distance
our hearts couldn’t be closer
So I will stay alone with your memory
Because I can’t live a life with someone else that was only meant for us
I pray that one day you find your way back to me
You will find me where you left me…. Alone
There You Are
When I read your old letters, my tears always flow
Should I believe the words I now read today?
They used to be so clear with intent
Now I question if you still mean them
Do you think I can no longer feel you?
Circumstances unraveled our relationship
They can not be glued back together
but have been put back together differently
You try hard to pretend we are fine
though I still feel your deep resentment
But good memories still remain here in my heart
as sounds of our laughter peek through at times
And as I drift off to sleep, there you are.
Kristy Raines was born Kristy Rasmussen, in Oakland, California, on April 9, 1957. Kristy is a poet, writer, freelance journalist, and advocate for human rights internationally. She has received many literary awards and humanitarian recognition certificates.
She is most known internationally for her unique style of writing. Kristy has recently launched her first poetry book, titled, “The Passion Within Me”, and is awaiting the launch of her second self-published book written with respected poet Dr. Prasana Kumar Dalai of India, of Epistolary Poems, titled, “I Cross My Heart from East to West, Volume One” on Valentine’s Day on Amazon. Kristy is also working on her first two fantasy books titled, “Princess and The Lion”, and, “Rings, Things, and Butterfly Wings”.
Kristy also writes short stories for children and song lyrics.
Quarantine
I don’t have the knowledge to create a vaccine
I don’t have the capacity to donate financially
I don’t have the strength to volunteer in the frontline
All I have
Is the patience to stay at home as much as possible
Is the perseverance to make do with whatever I have
Is the desire to learn something new each day to pass time
Is the contentment that I can be just safe in isolation
Freedom comes with responsibility
If I can’t do anything to help, I can at least try not to be a part of the problem.
Moon
If only the Moon is greater
A celestial with much power
All the planets swimming in milk
Warmed by Sun inside black silk
May your reflected light shine
Against the drunkness of wine
Uncover the hidden secret line
Each great ball that mutely whine
Open up each soul to perceive
Let no word nor act to deceive
Purge out anger and fear to leave
Shield against any evils to receive
Ambitious greed to seal away
No confusion led out to sway
Only compassion here to stay
If Moon has power in her ray
Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa was born January 14, 1965, in Manila Philippines. She has worked as a retired Language Instructor, interpreter, caregiver, secretary, product promotion employee, and private therapeutic masseur. Her works have been published as poems and short story anthologies in several language translations for e-magazines, monthly magazines, and books; poems for cause anthologies in a Zimbabwean newspaper; a feature article in a Philippine newspaper; and had her works posted on different poetry web and blog sites. She has been writing poems since childhood but started on Facebook only in 2014. For her, Poetry is life and life is poetry.
Lilian Kunimasa considers herself a student/teacher with the duty to learn, inspire, guide, and motivate others to contribute to changing what is seen as normal into a better world than when she steps into it. She has always considered life as an endless journey, searching for new goals, and challenges and how she can in small ways make a difference in every path she takes. She sees humanity as one family where each one must support the other and considers poets as a voice for Truth in pursuit of Equality and proper Stewardship of nature despite the hindrances of distorted information and traditions.
Synchronized Chaos Magazine expresses our sorrow for the lives and property lost in the Los Angeles wildfires. We invite people to visit here to learn about how to send cards of encouragement to fire crews and to donate books to replace school library collections that have burned.
In March we will have a presence at the Association of Writing Programs conference in L.A. which will include an offsite reading at Chevalier’s Books on Friday, March 28th at 6pm. All are welcome to attend!
Contributor Eva Petropoulou Lianou shares the Caesurae Collective Society’s call for submissions of poetry about consciousness.
The anthology seeks to weave a fabric of poetic expressions that resonate with the theme of consciousness—exploring the mind, the self, and the infinite cosmos—weaving together poetic voices that reflect on what it means to be aware, alive, and interconnected. Submissions due February 10th, 2025, information here.
Also, World Wide Writer Web invites submissions of short stories for their annual contest. Information here.
Finally, contributor Chimezie Ihekuna seeks a publisher for his children’s story collection Family Time. Family Time! Is a series that is aimed at educating, entertaining and inspiring children between the ages of two and seven years of age. It is intended to engage parents, teachers and children with stories that bring a healthy learning relationship among them.
This issue explores how we see and interpret our world through pieces that draw our attention to various focal points and take a closeup or wider angle view.
Some people zoom in on a particular place or image, using that as a meditation to begin deeper thoughts.
Sayani Mukherjee evokes an island’s lost grandeur through describing historical ruins while acknowledging the destination’s current reality. Student group 2123, from Uzbekistan, contributes a group reflection on their trip to Samarkand.
Dario creates a musical combination inspired by the complex culture of New Orleans. Kylian Cubilla Gomez’ photography focuses in on bits of play and whimsy in toys and in daily life.
Precious Moses draws on the West African iroko tree as a symbol of maturity and strength in hard times. Rahmat A. Muhammad expresses hope through the birth of a young sister in a world touched by darkness and pain.
Mashhura Usmonova expresses gratitude for her teacher and for education, which has allowed her to write as a container for her emotions.
Dr. Jernail Singh offers thoughts on poetry: how he appreciates cohesion and meaning as well as pretty language. Noah Berlatsky gives a dramatic take on the excision needed for the creative process. Daniel De Culla offers up a satirical and humorous take on writing generated through artificial intelligence as Texas Fontanella blasts the firehose of words and letters in our general direction. Jerome Berglund and Shane Coppage’s collaborative haiku include humor and clever twists of phrase.
Jacques Fleury poetizes about how knowing vital history can protect you from being erased by others’ fear or hatred.
Maria Miraglia, as interviewed by Eva Petropoulou Lianou, speaks to the importance of literacy and education in world peacemaking efforts.
Ashok Kumar reviews a poem by Eva Lianou Petropoulou expressing her hopes for peace in the world. Eva Petropoulou Lianou reviews a poetic plea for peace by Yatti Sadeli. Victor Ogan offers up a call for tolerance and equality among people of different races and cultures.
Loki Nounou calls out a culture of sexism in which violating women’s rights and their bodies becomes normalized. Narzulloyeva Munisa Bakhromovna highlights the critical need to stamp out global corruption.
Mahbub Alam laments the killing in Gaza and hopes that everyone who dies makes it into a better place. Graciela Noemi Villaverde also mourns the destruction in Gaza, personifying the land and culture into a living being to highlight its pain and beauty. Lidia Popa speaks directly to the heart and conscience of the world in her call for peace in Gaza. Maja Milojkovic revels in the beauty of peace, for Gaza and everywhere. Wazed Abdullah honors the quiet and dignified resilience of Gazans as Don Bormon affirms that the place will recover and heal.
Laurette Tanner charts and maps her journeys, hoping this wisdom will carry over into developing ways to lessen the suffering of the homeless.
Shoxijahon Urunov inspires us to protect the tenderness of our hearts. Nilufar Anvarova’s piece encourages us to follow our hearts and show kindness to each other. Eva Petropoulou Lianou expresses her human vulnerability and desire for understanding and healing. Mesfakus Salahin’s poem speaks to love but also to mystery: how complex we all are and whether we can truly know another.
Stephen Jarrell Williams crafts haiku vignettes on the search for bits of hope and connection in a large modern cityscape.
Mashhura Usmonova expresses gratitude for her teacher and for education, which has allowed her writing as a container for her emotions. Raxmonova Durdona offers up a tender tribute for a caring and deceased uncle.
Maria Teresa Liuzzo’s poetry illuminates deep feeling: passionate love and the inevitability of human suffering. Mykyta Ryzhykh digs deep for meaning in a world littered with death as Orzigul Sherova urges readers to make the best use of their limited time. Lilian Dipasupil Kunimasa also encourages making the most of life, holding onto faith and hope in a confusing world.
Scott C. Holstad explores themes of disillusionment, introspection, and the search for love and meaning in life. Tagrid Bou Merhi’s elegant words wander through a quest for identity and meaning in a seemingly empty world. In a semicomic short story, Bill Tope fears losing memory and mental capacity. J.J. Campbell writes of numbness, aging, and loss. He connects with others, but even these interactions are tinged with sadness, longing, and thoughts of mortality.
Audrija Paul tells the story of a heart broken when a person reads more into a relationship than is there. Taylor Dibbert describes a relationship that ended as impulsively as it began. Z.I. Mahmud explores generational family dysfunction in his essay on Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts.
Chris Butler’s short poems probe themes of identity and love and our relationships to nature and technology.
Alex S. Johnson proffers a mythic tale where a hero foils the unholy plots of power-hungry gods and wild natural forces.
Rustamova Muqaddas relates twists of fate on a hiking trip, the uneasy balance of humans and wild nature.
Joseph Ogbonna writes of the majestic richness of the Himalayas as Gadoyboyeva Gulsanam describes the power and transience of a rainstorm. Ilhomova Mohichehra conveys the joy of children playing outside on a snowy day. John Brantingham’s short story shows a couple re-evaluating how much they have in common while watching muskrats go about their business.
Mark Young’s surreal poetry touches on climate change, politics, nature, and job hunting, as Su Yun’s work explores time, nature, identity, and memory.
Duane Vorhees’ work addresses life, death, and the physical and sensual aspects of our existence with wit and humor. Marjona Jo’rayeva Baxtiyorovna offers blessings for weddings as Nate Mancuso’s tough and ironic gangster tale takes place in the world of calm seniors and pickleball. Alan Catlin presents sets of poems in three parts, each looking at aspects of aging, nature, and art.
Tom McDade braids vignettes and images from life together with artworks from different eras. Peter Cherches’ vignettes present character sketches of people on journeys, literal or emotional.
Reading this issue is a journey of its own, and we invite you to savor these contributions.